BREE LIVES! An alternate ending to her Short Life
by VampyBlonde
Summary: If you were not satisfied by how the Short Life of Bree Tanner ends, why not try my version now? spoiler! Read the Short Life of Bree Tanner first! I do not own Twilight or any of Stephanie Myers' characters...they are all hers and this is just for fun.


My eyes were closed. I waited for what was to come. I imagined what it would be like… the yanking of my limbs, the flash and sudden heat of the flames, the agony of the burning. Would it be as bad as the burning of the venom that marked my beginning into this short new life? Would it be worse?

I hoped it wouldn't be long before I blinked out of existence. I decided that without Diego , perhaps this really was the best way. I didn't want to go on without my first real friend, and my "almost" mate. Better to burn out into nothingness in one great greasy flame then to have to face this life alone without him. He had changed my vampire heart forever, and I knew that I would mourn him for however much time I had left. Better that the time be marked in minutes instead of millennia.

I almost welcomed it when I heard a sound that resembled a blow torch, but then, I heard the little dark cloak they called Jane give a sudden yelp. I opened my eyes and saw confusion and - something else I couldn't identify immediately, in the faces all around me. The dark cloaked Volturi and the yellow eyed Cullens were on the ground in front of me - moaning. Only me, and the human pet they called Bella remained standing. Jane was moaning "uuggh, what is this feeling?" and her face was completely screwed up in what looked like to be a mixture of sudden nausea and revulsion. Wait a second…this scene seems awfully familiar... I thought back to a few days ago when Diego and I had been spared from an unfair fight in a very similar way.

In the middle of my reverie, Bella dropped down beside the mind reader "Edward…Edward! What is wrong!, what has she done to you?" She stood up and glared at me. "What have you done to Edward!" I looked about me, dumbfounded. He had to be here somewhere…that was the only explanation. "Fred?" I yelled, " Fred is that you?" Bella turned to follow my eyes before turning back to me. "Who is Fred? What is he doing and why is he doing this to us? We tried to HELP you!".

I realized then, that Bella had more strength and courage than I had given her credit for. Here I was, able to snap trees in two, and she wasn't afraid of me at all. All she could think about was her mate. I understood how she felt, and I could imagine that I would have felt the same way if it were Diego that was writhing on the ground. Diego…even his name felt like a stabbing in my dead, non-beating heart. "It's going to be ok" I said to her, "just give me a minute and I will explain…"

"Bree! Are you ok?" a familiar voice called out. I turned in the direction of the sound. At first I was aware of just a slight shimmer like a heat shimmer over hot pavement, but then…there he was! "Fred! How did you get here? I thought you were going to wait for me in …" "I know – " he broke in " but I decided I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you and I wasn't there to help – you're so puny and all". He came closer to me and took hold of my upper arms with his big hands – he stared down at me as if he was about to laugh.

I couldn't help but be glad to see my big blonde buddy standing before me grinning his lopsided grin. I was so glad to see him that I started to believe that living on might be ok – if we could only get out of this mess alive and intact. Diego would have wanted us to go on.

Again it struck me as odd that Fred was beautiful. How could he be so beautiful, but make people feel he was so repulsive that they couldn't be near him, look at him, or even think about him without feeling great waves of nausea? Obviously he was able to direct that energy as he pleased, because I was once again unaffected.

Fred began again "I had decided to follow you for a bit to see if you were going to be ok. I told myself I wouldn't get involved unless you needed my help. I watched you interact with all of these others" … he swept his arm down toward the ground to include all the moaning vampires…" for a while, but when it became apparent that you were in trouble for real, I had to do something".

Bella was not interested in any of Fred's explanations. "Hey! If you are the one doing this to Edward knock it off!" She yelled at Fred. She launched herself over in our direction, tripping on her way to where we were standing. I knew that such close proximity to us wasn't a good idea (on so many levels) so I held out my hand in the universal "stop" signal , and shook my head in warning to stop her .

"Fred, let the yellow eyed vampires go. They were trying to help me." I said. Fred looked a little uneasy, but after looking deeply in my eyes for a short time, he nodded. A moment or two later the Cullens stopped moaning and stood up. Edward was the first on his feet. He immediately grabbed Bella and put her behind him.

I smiled at Fred. "Thanks – you saved my life". Fred took me by surprise with a big bear hug. "We aren't out of this yet, little one" he said.

The wind changed, and Bella's scent wafted our way. Fred stiffened immediately, turned to look at Bella and snarled. The power of her scent hit me again, but I realized that this second time wasn't nearly as excruciating as the first. I actually had the ability to think rationally this time – maybe that had something to do with a moment ago being so close to the point of death, or maybe it was because I now had a better understanding of this human girl, but whatever the reason, I no longer craved her death…although my body warred with my mind on that as I felt the venom building in my mouth.

I held Fred back to the best of my ability. Jasper jumped to Fred's other side and helped me, and he gave me a surprised but appreciative look. "My, you're feeling better" he said. I smiled and answered " a little, but it is beyond tough even being this close to her". Jasper winked at me and said "I know kid, boy do I know".

Jane, not used to being a victim of Vampiric powers herself , started clawing at the ground. "Sssstop this now or dieeee!" she hissed. Edward couldn't help but chuckle, "Jane is feeling a little uncomfortable at the moment, however I am not sure she would keep you alive if you actually did let her go at the moment".

Fred looked down at Jane. "She doesn't look all that impressive" he said. Edward smirked a little at that statement, but answered "her bite is normally much worse than her bark – believe me, however, I am not quite sure why she hasn't retaliated." He looks at Jane again and seemed to be listening intently to something, and then he shook his head. "It seems she has been trying but your revulsion gift is deflecting her powers …" he looked puzzled for a moment before breaking into laughter…"back onto Felix!". With that statement Jane screams in anger and frustration, but Felix's moans seem to decrease in intensity.

I had a horrific thought. "How long can you hold them Fred?" I asked. Fred looked thoughtful for a moment and replied "well the longest I held up before was about 2 days…but then I was so drained I had to go away and hide for about a week". He said. I smiled – "that should give us enough time". Then I looked back at the others … "are we going to put you in trouble?" I didn't want to bring these Volturi down on this family who had tried to help me.

Edward was staring intently at Jane, "I don't think we'll win any popularity contests with the Volturi for a while, but they don't truly have anything against "us" at the moment…we haven't violated any of their laws. You two however, will have to keep away from them from here on out". Fred smiled "they won't get a chance to see us, and even if they were to stumble on us, they won't be able to come near us - I'll see to that…but first, who are you, and what happened here?" he asked.

I filled Fred in on how Rylie had duped us, abandoned us, and then met his timely end along with "her". I also explained how I had come to meet the Cullens. Fred took the news of the demise of our coven well… "good riddance" he said. Then I finally had to say the words out loud… "Rylie killed Diego Fred… he did it days ago". Edward looked at me intently, and pulled Bella close to him. He must have read my thoughts, and they seemed to remind him of something painful in his own life. He kissed the top of Bella's head. Seeing that expression of love brought back my few intimate memories of Diego, and the pain hit me again. Edward eyed me sympathetically, but he seemed to not know what to say.

I couldn't hold it in any longer, and I lost it finally. My body shook with tearless sobs that hurt all the more since I couldn't actually cry. I collapsed on the ground but Fred picked me up and held me like a little child. Fred was the only one left besides mewho had known Diego.I don't know how well Fred had truly known him, but he was the only other one who had been ready to fight to save Diego as I had when one Raoul from our old coven had decided he should die. If not for Fred, Diego would have died a lot sooner than he did, and I would have died that same day too. I was glad that Fred was here with me, first of all because he had always been nice to me, secondly he had always offered me protection, and finally he was my only living connection to Diego, and if I couldn't have Diego, at least I could speak of him with someone else who knew him.

After a time my racking sobs gave way to a dull ache in my chest. "Bree" Fred said finally, "I promise I will never leave your side again, ever. I will always be with you, as long as you want me to be. I can't be Diego, and I can't bring him back, but I can be your protector. I can be your friend. I can be whatever you want me to be." I looked at him, and noticed again his breathtaking beauty and his shockingly blue eyes. The hair on his head was so blonde, it was almost white and it shined like a golden halo in the sun.

He was "Freaky Fred" no more to me, but what did he mean when he said "he could be whatever I want him to be?". I couldn't think about that right now, I didn't have that luxury when more pressing matters were at hand.

I finally spoke, "We had better get out of here, we need to get a big head start before your power wears off and the dark cloaks start chasing after us". He nodded slowly in agreement.

Then I turned to the Cullens, "please, there isn't much time…and we don't know anything about the truth of being a vampire. We don't know any of the rules. If there is anything that we really need to know – can you please tell us before we leave?"

That was when I learned how fast our kind can talk when we choose to…and it amazed me that I could understand everything they were saying to me at such a speed! Edward explained who the Volturi were and why they had come to be here. He told us where they hailed from, and some of the places they could be found so we could avoid those places. He also gave Fred and me a very basic lesson in "vampire rules". It wasn't a difficult lesson since there weren't many rules to begin with, and then the other Cullens filled us in on a few other tidbits of knowledge that would help us to be more comfortable and safer on our travels.

As we started to go, Carlisle and Esme made their way over to us to see us off . I waited for them because I did have something I needed to say. "Thank you very much for sparing me – and for even offering to be responsible for me" I said, "you didn't need to do that, especially not after all that Rylie and the others did to you and your family".

Carlisle smiled and looked down at the ground for a moment and then back at me. When his eyes connected once more with mine, I was again struck by how good, no, how angelic he truly was. Surely no other creature that walked the earth could be as truly good as him. Although, in retrospect, Esme was the perfect partner for such a being, what with her motherly ways and soft demeanor. She beamed at me with a warmth that echoed his.

I was about to turn away when Carlisle spoke, "Bree, Fred, before you leave us…let me tell you that there is another way to live. A different way from how you were shown. My family and I consider ourselves "vegetarians" because we choose not to feed on the blood of humans. We have lived a long, long time without feeling the need to kill humans. If anything, feeding only on animals has strengthened us in ways that the others of our kind cannot match. We have strength in our compassion, in our convictions, and in our caring. It helps us to live together and among humans. We embrace our humanity in addition to that which makes us supernatural. "

Esme looked up at Carlisle and smiled before she looked back at Fred and me and then she said " You could say that we extract the best from both worlds".

Edward added his two cents "none of us sought out this life, just as neither of you chose it either…but it can still be a good life – and an honorable one. You don't have to become a monster in order to thrive and be…." He looked down at Bella again… " happy. Just let that be something that you consider".

Fred looked thoughtful ,"We wouldn't have to kill to feed?" he looked at me, obviously intrigued by the idea. I have to admit that I liked the idea as well, but would we be able to do it? I answered…"we should try it at least – it kind of makes sense in a way, I mean…before we were vampires we fed off animals, it would just be a return to our old ways"…as long as we are strong enough to swing it I thought to myself. Edward had a hint of a smile on his face, and then he answered my private thought "you are if you choose to be". Darn that mind-reader! I was glad we were moving on, not having an inner monologue that was private would drive me stark raving crazy in no time at all! After that, Edward couldn't help himself and started to laugh…but quickly changed it into a coughing fit which I was pretty sure fooled nobody.

Jane growled again from the ground, and I realized we really had to get going if we wanted to get away with enough head start to give us a decent chance of disappearing from the Volturi radar. Fred smirked, "I think we have worn out our welcome." I nodded, and we broke out in a run toward the forest. Just before we would disappear among the trees, Fred turned around and yelled back " they'll probably be able to get up in about 3 hours or so." Thanks again!"

I turned and took one last look at the meadow where I had almost met my end, and saw the Cullens all waving at us. I waved back. "Let's look them up again in 50 or 60 years…things should have died down quite a bit by then, right?" I asked. Fred laughed and answered "I expect so!"

We ran and ran until we came to a cliff, and without hesitation we dove off of it together and swam fast and deep. I didn't know where we would end up, or what other adventures might lie in store for us…but I did know one thing, I had some living to do.

**The End**


End file.
